Chickens, Hugh and Tesco Too Chickens, Hugh and Tesco Too

Date Published:

15/12/2008

Last summer Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall took on his local town, the poultry industry and the nation's supermarkets in a bid to change Britain's relationship with its favourite meat: chicken.

As supermarkets nationwide sold out of free-range chicken, the poultry industry rushed to cope with demand. But while the series' powerful message shifted consumer attitudes, Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco, was still reluctant to talk to Hugh.

Revealing what happened next, this programme follows Hugh as he makes an audacious attempt to force Tesco to change policy on intensively reared chicken from the inside, by becoming a shareholder. Can he get enough fellow shareholders onside to demand the floor and put his case to Tesco's board of directors?

Hugh also targets the notoriously secretive poultry industry to explore if higher welfare indoor birds - or Freedom Foods chicken - could provide the nation with more humanely-produced, yet affordable, chicken as people increasingly feel the pinch in their pockets.

And Hugh revisits Hayley, the single mother who stood firm and continued to buy cheap mass-produced chicken. Can Hugh persuade Hayley to trade up to Freedom Foods and send a significant message to Britain's cash-strapped consumers?

Watch Chickens, Hugh and Tesco Too, coming to Channel 4, Monday, 26th January, 9pm.

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